Fence



(Hommel.) J. E. HINKLE.

FENCE.

No. 351,032. Patented Oct'. 19, 1886.

UNTTED STATES PATENT Trice,

JAMES Fl. HNKLE, OF TODUS PONT, KENTUCKY.

tenes.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 351,032, dated etober 19, 1885.

Application filed )lay 26, 1836. Serial No. 203,829. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concer-n:

Beitknown that I, JAMES E. HINKLE, aetizen of the United States, residing at Todds Point, in the county of Shelby and State of Kentucky, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Fences; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to stakeand -rail fences; and its object is to make a strong and durable fence, which will stand alone upon the ground without the aid ot' driven stakes, in order that it may be bodily moved from one location to another, and in order that it may be set up readily and securely on rocks or very hard ground.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts forming afence, hereinafterdescribed, and particularly set forth in the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of two panels of my fence. Fig. 2 is a top View thereof. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the same at the line x x, Fig. l. Fig. 4 is an inverted plan view,

part in horizontal section, at the line y g/,f

Fig. 1.

' A represents two stakes or braces, crossing each other near their tops, B, the riders or top rails, supported in the upper fork of the said crossed stakes. G Care rails secured close up in the lower fork of the same, and D E represent wires by which these parts are bound to gether.

F F are light vertical stakes, which, to designate them from the braces A, will be termed posts77 G represents aseries of lower rails, of which there are four here shown, secured at their ends to the posts F by means of binding-wires H. One post, F, is placed at each end of a panel of the fence, the rails C of one panel lapping at their ends against the sides ofthe rails C of the next panel, and the rails G of one panel similarly lapping against the next panel. of rails G. These laps are made directly against the posts, and each wire H binds two lapped ends together and both to a post. The wires H cross the posts on one side and the outer rail on the other side diagonally, and cross the line of the fence at each side of the post directly. Each wire H is joined and very firmly twisted at its ends, forming a close loop around the posts and rails. The two wires l1 at the opposite ends of each rail slant in opposite directions, and the adjacent wires H on each post slant in directions opposite to each other, alternating right and left, as shown, in order that the tendency to make a panel winding may be obviated. The braces A are at the center of each panel, and the riders B extend from center to center of the panels across the joints, and are bound midway by wires to the tops of the posts F, whereby the fence is strengthened and stiifened at the joints ofthe panels against lateral strains. The rail G corresponds with the lower rails of the panel, and the braces A, being secured to the middle of the rail G, derive the support necessary to guard the joint of the riders which is between the tops of each pair of braces.

In order that the braces may be secured togetherin the most direct manner possible while standing side by side, the wire E first crosses the fence at right angles tangent to the adjacent faces of the two braces. It then passes around one brace, and, crossing itself diagonally between the braces, passes around the other brace to the starting-point, where its ends are now to be firmly twisted together. rlhus the two loops are in the form of a figure 8, directly in line ot' the mass of the two braces at that level. The two loops ot' this wire E, instead of lying in a horizontal plane, each passes directly around its respective brace at right angles tothe line thereof, then, hanging a little downward, forms a sling at its crossing, in which the rail C rests, and whereby the said rail may be bound very iirmly up into the fork of the braces. The upper wire, D, may pass as a single loop around both braces `yand both ends of adjacent riders, as shown at J, Fig. 2; but I prefer to carry out the principle of two loops, or the figure 8 just described, as shown at l, Fig. 2. ln this case the wire l) first passes directly across beneath the ends of the riders and tangent to the ad jacent faces of the braces, thence slantingly around one brace to the top of the riders, which it crosses over diagonally,'and, passing around the other brace, the two ends are to be twisted together. By this means two important ob- IOO jects are accomplished-first, the riders lying* side by sidewill rest at the same time upon that portion of the wire which passes directly across their line and against both braces, whereby the strain of the wire is direct and so binds the two braces to the rails that there never will be any slack wire to let the fence loose, unless the wire stretches; secondly, the upper diagonal wire, D, when placed as described, is directly opposed in its strain to the lower diagonal wire, E, thereby clamping the braces rigidly without any unbalanced twistingstrain.

' It is a well-known fact that when a fence is bound together on a twist or with unbalanced twisting-strains the action of the wind and occasional straining of cattle will eventually work the wires loose, leaving the fence to fall down. In this fence it has been `my object to balance the strains at every point. The posts and braces of this fence all stand on top of the ground, the fence being sorigidly constructed that stakes driven into the ground to keep it upright are wholly unnecessary. It may be gradually set to one side a little at a time by two persons lifting with a cross-bar, iirst beginning at one end and carrying it as far as it will bend, and then moving the next section, and so on until it is bodily moved; or it may be parted into sections of two or three panels each, and be so loaded on wagons and carried any distance. f I am aware that fences have before been shown in which the riders rest inthe upper fork of a pair of crossed bracing-stakes and rails are bound .up into the lower fork of the same stakes, and that the said stakes and riders and stakes and rails have been bound together with ywires; but such binding-wires have heretofore each included in its loop other stakes or posts or levers, which could work loose, thus loos- Y ening the wire binders so that the fence could tumble down, and I do not claim a fence so constructed. My fence includes within every wire loop the least possible number of partsto wit, in the top loop only the ends of two riders and the tops of two supporting-stakes therefor; in the next lower loop only the two stakes above referred to, the loop passing across below the upper rail of the panel. rIhus vthere are no pieces which can work loose within eitherv of my loops.

. I am also aware that fence-riders or top rails have before broken joints with the panel-rails below them; but I am not aware that a post has before joined the ends of two overlapping panel-rails with the middle of a rider-railat the same time that the ends of the rider-rails overlapping each other are rigidly connected with the middle of the panel-rails, as mine are. the overlapping panels, and the panels, secured at their ends as one, overlap the joints of the riders. Thus the sidewise strains which would naturally bend and weaken a fence at the joints are met and resisted by my system of overlapping rails and riders. Thus I have constructed a fence which not only stands alone against the strains of service, but the upper portions so bound together support the lower panel-rails, G, against small animals.

WVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination of the crossed stakes A, the riders B, overlapping each other between the said stakes, a loop, D, binding the said riders and stakes together, the upper panelrails, C, resting their middles upward in the lower fork of the stakes A, the wires E, binding the stakes across below the rails C, and the posts F, each bound rigidly to the lap of overlapping panels, and also bound to the mddles ofthe said riders, substantially as shown and described. l

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES E. HINKLE Vitnesses:

JOHN H. MALONE, R. DUDLEY.

In my fence the riders pass the joint of K Y 

